Snow scooping and melting apparatus



Feb; 9 1926.,

- H. E. WILBER'T SNOW SCOOPING AND MELTING APPARATUS MW 7: Ii

Feb 9,]1926.- I Lslmfim H. E. WELBERT.

SNOW SCOOFING AND MELTING AFFARATUS Filed a h 1925 7 Sheets-Sheet f bl amy me I m M s an-mm a jntmnfoc H. E. WELBERT SNOW SCOOPLNG AND MELTINGAPPARATUS Feb. 9 1926 1,572,414

Filed March 1'7 I 1925 7 sheetsusheet 5 Feb.9,w2& LSVZA-M H. E. WILBERTSNOW SCOOPING AND MELTING APPARATUS Filed Ma 1925 '7 Sheets-Quest 4 ANDKVIELTING APPARATUS F1 led March 17 ,2

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HARRY E. WILBER'I, 0F HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

SNOW SOOOPING AND MELTING APPARATUS.

Application filed March 17, 1925. Serial No. 16,219.

of Dan ')llll1 and State of lfennsvlvania.

have invented certain new and useful linprovcments in Snow scooping andhlcltinc; rtpparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus [for removing snow from streets.railway tracks and the like and fordisposinu e't said snow by meltingit; and it is an obicct of the inventi n to provide novel snow bankbreakin'g means eli'ective to displace a bank of Snow in order that itmay be taken by a scoop and elevator and conveyed to a melting tankwhich is a part oi the apparatus.

It. is a further object of this invention to produce a snow meltingtank, associated with novel. heat producing and distributing meanseilective to deliver the products of.

combustion from the retort or furnace to the tank in which the snow isbeing melted, whereby the full effects of the Iuel will be UiD'tR'lilQChIt is a still 'iurther object of this invention to provide a truckhaving power trans mitt-lug means from a motor to the traction Wheels;and furthermore, to utilize the power of the motor for operating}; theconveyers, the snow bank breaker and the blower for maintaining draft inthe fur nace; and it is furthermore an object of the invention toprovidenovel means for mai nipulating the breaker in order that itsnay becaused to operate at different heights with respect to the roadloed onWlllCll the truck is operating.

It is astill further object. of this inven tion to produce novel means"for regulating the primary elevator or scoop which is accon'ipanied bya shoe adapted to be supported in proximity to the roadbedyor the saidshoe may be permitted to slide along; on the roadbed.

t isa still further ohject of this invention to produce a. Waterdischarge pipe coni- Inimicatine with the tank to permit the 'meltedsnow to be discharged from the tank, and in order to direct the Water tosuitable places, such as the gutter of a street, or to ditches of aroad; the said pipe is provided with hose that may be caused to carrythewater to such distant places as will cause it to clear the roadbed ortrack on which the truck is operating, and as a convenient nlcausfoccarrying the hose, the apparatus is provided with a hose reel.associated with power applyinp; means by which it may be rotated whenthe hose is to be Wound on the reel.

.lt is a still further object of this invention to produce a snowelevator and melter ot the character indicated having a fuel storing:and feeding system communicating I with the furnace Where the fuel maybe consumed through burners of any appropriate type.

lVith the foregoing and other objects in view. the invention consists inthe details of construction, and in the arrangement and combination ofparts to be hereinafter more fully set i orth and claimed r Indescribing the invention in detail, reference will be had to theaccompanying drz-nvings forming part of this application .Wherein likecharacters denote correspond- Ling parts in the several views, and inwhich- Figure 1 illustrates a view in side eleva tron showing a deviceembodying, the invention;

Figure 2 illustrates an enlarged detail view of the front portion of theapparatus, partly in section;

Figure 9 illustrates a sectional View of the breaker drum and partsassociated with it on the line 9-9 of'Fig. 2;

Figure 10 illustrates a sectional view of the said breaker drum on theline 1010 of Fig. 9';

Figure 11 illustrates a sectional view of F igure 3 illustrates a topplan view there- Figure '17 illustrates a sectional view on.

the line 1717 of Fig. 15;

Figure 18 illustrates a sectional view of the telescopic shaft on theline 18-18 of Fig. 15: x

Figure 19 illustrates a view in elevation of the hose reel;'

Figure 20 illustrates a sectional view on the line 20-2O of Fig. 19;

Figure 21 illustrates a sectional view on the line 2121 of Fig; 19; I

Figure 22 illustrates a sectional view of the tank showing the outletpipe connected hereto;

Figure 28 illustrates a sectional view of the conveyer;

Figure 24 illustrates a detail View of a conveyor bucket associated witha fragment of the conveyer; and

Figure 25 illustrates a detail View of a water and slush agitatingpaddle.

In these drawings, denotes any suitable chassis frame, associated withwheels such as 31, axles 32 and springs 33, although any suitableequipment may be employed for supporting ,the chassis frame., The wheels31 which are arranged in pairs on the axles 39. are, in the presentembodiment of the invention, provided as supports for the apparatus, andthe traction wheels 34 are associated with transmission gear of knownconstruction located in the housing The motor 36 may be of anyappropriate type and adaptedto driven transmission of known type locatedin the transmission case 37.

- It is the purpose ofthe inventor to have the transmission connected toa drive shaft 38 leading to the differential; a sectional shaft 39connected by universal joints 40, which sectional shaft 39 extends tothe front of the chassis frame for operating the snow breaker andelevator, as will presently ap pear, and. it is a further object of thein ventor to have the transmission gearing communicate motion to a powertake-off shaft 41 which may be utilized for driving: av

blower to supply air for draft in the furnace.

As the parts just described may-be of any conventional type, noattempthas been made to illustrate them in detail, since one skilled in the artwill understand that by employing sectional shafts with universaljoints,-

may be had. The burners 45 may be of any type suitable for consumingliquid fuel, or, if desired, the furnace may be employed in connectionwith means for consuming other types of fuel, and the inventor'docs notwish to be limited with respect to these features. However, in thepresent embodiment of the invention, a fuel pipe 16 leads from-the tank47 to the burners and an air supply pipe 48 leads from the air tank 9,it being understood that air shall be supplied to the tank 49 through acompressor operated by the shaft 41, although other means may beprovided for compressing air delivered to the air tank. Valves 50 and51, conventionally shown in Fig. 1, may be employed for regulating thesupply of air and fuel, respectlvely, so that proper combustion maybe.maintained in the furnace.

Pipes 52 and 53, each having a series of convolutions, has one endcommunicating through the snow receivin tank with the interior of thefurnace, an each pipe may be anchored to the said snow receiving tank bya coupling such as 54. Each pipe 52 and 53. extends upwardly to near thetop of the tank and terminates in a gooseneck 55 so that the-dischargeend of each pipe is below the normal water line of the tank. Theproducts of combustion which are forced out of the furnace by the bloweror the air pressure in the tank serve to cause the products ofcombustion to pass into the water and through the melting now, acondition which augments the melting action of the furnace, since theheat accompanying the products of combustion is utilized in this way asan economical provision for subjecting the snow to the action of theheat,

A header 56 communicates with the tank through the outlets 57 and 58,and this header constitutes a discharge pipe to which a hose 59 may beconnected for directing water from the tank to any convenient location.as has been explained. The outlets 57 and 58 being-on different levelswill permit the water to escape from thetank without liability of theirbeing clogged by snow. A reel 60 is rotatably mounted on suitablebrackets 61 near the rear end of the tank and it is the purpose oftheinventor that this reel shall be utilized for storing the hose when thehose is not to be used; Prombod vision is made-tor communicating motionto the reel through the sprocket chain (32 deriving power from theconveyor drive, will presently appear. The reel shaft (53 is associatedwith a clutch GT and the reel is moved axially of the shaft by the leverin. order that the clutch members may be carried into and out of opeative engagement n" h relation to each other.

here is a conveyer housing 66 built into the snow receiving and meltingtank and it Ft!} ))('!1l0tl in an inclined position with the front endextending into an aperture 67 in the trout wall 01 the said tank. Awatertight joint; etlected between the housing and the front wall of thetank by a suitable angle iron (38, although other n'ieans may heprovided for making this joint \Yitttldl q'ltt.

The housing is prcn'ided with eonveyer guides 69 and it) on which theconveyer 71 operates. 'lhe said eonveyer, in the present nt of theinvention, ot the link typ: and 't has buckets T2 at appropriateintervals which are eiieetive to carry snow through the housing to theupper end of the said housing wherejt is discharged into the tank. Thepresence of the conveyor housing, a nn-lion of which is submerged in thecontents of the tank has that part of the conveyor housing within thetank surrounded l, v the melted or melting snow which is at a higherten'il'ierature than the snow passing through the conveyor housing sothat the ten'iperatnre of the conveyor housing is raised and the snowcarried by the convcyer has its temperature raised and the snow will hemore expeditiously discharged from the conveyor blades.

The conveyer is driven by a sectional shaft; and a worm gear 73. Theworm wheel 71% rotates a shaft 74 havinc sprocket wheels '7 on which theconveyor chains operate,it being shown that the said conveyer chainsalso engage sprocket wheels 76 on a. shaft 77 which is rotatahiyhearing- 78 of the brackets 79, the latter of which are located on thetank. It is through the employment of a sprocket chain 80 on the shaft.77 that the sprocket chain 62 is driven for rotating the hose reel.

Means are provided within the tank for circulating the snow and waterand prefer-.

ably themotzion of the agitator is relatively slow. As here shown. theagitator comprises a shaft 81. having paddles 82, the said shaft beingrotatably mounted in bearings supported on the inner walls of. themelting tank. The shaft, has a sprocket wheel 83 secured on it and thissprocket wheel is engaged by a sprocket chain 84 that operates over asprocket wheel 85 on the conveyer shaft 77.

The snow scoop, 86, in the present embodiment of the invention, isslidably supported on a bracket 87 at its rear end, whereas itssupported by theforward end has a shoe 88 secured to it, which may rideon the roadbcd, or the said shoe may be sup mrted clear of the roadbedby the hanger cables 8!). 'The cables 89 are connected to the scoop asshown at 90, and the said cables operate over sheaves 91 and over drums92 and 93 on the shaft; 91. The shaft; 9 1- has a worm wheel 95 securedon it, and the worm wheel is engaged by a worm in; rotatable in thebracket 97., so that by manipulating the hand wheel 98 of the wormshalt, the scoop may he ole 'atcd or lowered, according to the directionof rotation of the said hand wheel. ly reason of the means justdescribed, the shoe of the scoop may be positioned at proper positionswith relation to the roadhed, or it. may be raised to clearobstructions, should they be encountered.

In the event of it. being); desirable to supply the device with a snowhank breaker, the side members of the chassistraine may be provided'withextending arms 99 preferably diverging laterally in order that they willclear the sides of the scoop. The extending arms 99 are provided attheir outer endswith guioe arms 100 on which the bearings 10] areslidable, it. being shown that the 1'uir.ling tongue and grooveconnections which prevent, the bearings from disengaging from the guidearms.

A. shaft 102 rotatable in the hearings 101 and this shatt'is'providedwith a drum 103 having snow engaging and displacing blades 104. Theconstruction of the drum may be changed -to suit particularrcquirements, but as here shown, it has end heads connected by bars105.. and the said bars are secured to the heads by fastcnintrs 106,such as hag screws or the like, and the said bars carry the bladesreference has been made.

104, to which In order that the height of the breaker wheel or drum maybe regulated, the hearings of the breaker Wheel are connected by a yoke107 and a rod 108 leads from the said yoke rearwardly to a bracket 109.The rear end of the rod 108 has threads 110 ongaged by the threads of awheel 111 in order that when the wheel 111 is rotated, the rod 108 willbe projected or retracted, according to the direction of rotation of thewheel 11], and thchreaker wheel is thereby lowered on its supportingmembers or elevated thereon in order that the said breaker wheel may bebrought to proper position with relation to the bank of snow to bedislodged.

It is shown that the scoop 86 has a hood S6 at its rear and that thesaid scoop may move up or down in thehood .so that the hood will.cooperate in discl'ia'rging, snow to the elevator, which, as shown inFig. 2, is imaged beneath the discharge end of the paralus, a truckhaving a tank The links of the conveyor chain have pins or pinties 112which connect the links, and these pintles are embraced by U-bolts 113that extend through the bottoms of the buckets for holding the bucketsin place. Nuts 114 are threaded on the U-bolts and serve to retain theparts just described in their assembled positions.

I claim: v

1. in a snow scooping and melting apparatus, a truck having a tankthereon, a housing" trntenrling; through the front end of the tank andsupported in an inclined position in said tank, a conveyor mounted foroperation through the housing, means for heating the tank, and means foroperating the "conveyor for carrying snow to the tank.

2. in a snow scooping and melting apthereon, a

housing extending through the front end of the tank and supported in aninclined position in said tank, a conveyer mounted for overaiion throu hthe 110118111 a scoo l h b P I in front of the conveyer fordirectingsnow ftothe coirveyeix a stationary the conveyor with relationto which the scoop hood above tioniin said tank, a conveyer mountedforoperation through thehousing, a furnace under the-tank, pipes havingloops locatedin the tank and communicating with the furnace, the saidpipes having'upwardly extending portions terminating in gooseneckdischarge ends located withi-n'the tank, and means for operating theconveyor. 4.111 a snow melting tank, a receptacle, a furnace thereunder,dischargepipes for the products otcombustion communicating, with thefurnace and extending in a oi); cuitous passage through the tank, thesaid pipes having upstanding portions-Within the tank terminating" ingoosenecks having their discharge ends below the normal water line ofthe tank, substantially as described.

HARRY E. WILBERT.

